Clas Thunberg

Clas Thunberg

Personal information
Born	(1893-04-05)5 April 1893 Helsinki, Finland
Died	28 April 1973(1973-04-28) (aged 80) Helsinki, Finland
Height	1.67 m (5 ft 5 1⁄2 in)
Weight	67 kg (148 lb)
Sport
Country	Finland
Sport	Speed skating
Medal record Representing  Finland Olympic Games 1924 Chamonix 1500 m 1924 Chamonix 5000 m 1924 Chamonix Allround 1924 Chamonix 10000 m 1924 Chamonix 500 m 1928 St. Moritz 500 m 1928 St. Moritz 1500 m World Championships 1922 Kristiania Allround 1923 Stockholm Allround 1925 Oslo Allround 1927 Tampere Allround 1928 Davos Allround 1929 Oslo Allround 1931 Helsinki Allround European Championships 1922 Helsinki Allround 1923 Hamar Allround 1924 Kristiania Allround 1927 Stockholm Allround 1928 Oslo Allround 1929 Davos Allround 1931 Stockholm Allround 1932 Davos Allround

Arnold Clas Robert Thunberg (5 April 1893 – 28 April 1973) was a Finnish speed skater who won five Olympic gold medals – three at the inaugural Winter Olympics held in Chamonix in 1924 (along with a silver and a bronze medal) and two at the 1928 Winter Olympics held in St. Moritz. He was the most successful athlete at both of these Winter Olympics, sharing the honour for 1928 Winter Olympics with Johan Grøttumsbraaten of Norway. No other athlete ever won such a high fraction of all Olympic events at a single Games. He was born and died in Helsinki.

Thunberg began with speed skating rather late, at the age of 18, having led a somewhat rowdy life as a compulsive smoker and drinker before he concentrated fully on his sport. However, from the age of 28 – when he turned up at his first European Allround Championships – and for the following ten years, he was by far the most-winning skater.

Thunberg's greatest strengths were the shortest distances, the 500 through 5000 metres. He never won an international 10000 metre event, although he did win a silver medal on the 10000 metres at the 1924 Winter Olympics – beaten by three seconds by compatriot Julius Skutnabb. Thunberg won three gold medals at the 1924 Olympics – the allround event, the 1500 metres and the 5000 metres. He remains the only person to have won an Olympic gold medal in allround speed skating, as despite the status of allround as the premier skating event, at least up until the 1990s, the event was abolished in the Olympics from 1928 onwards.

Thunberg won five World Allround Championships titles from 1923 to 1931, and also four European Allround Championships titles. He also took two more gold medals at the 1928 Winter Olympics, to end with five, and these two medals made him the oldest Olympic Speed Skating Champion, at the age of 34. However, despite his amazing run, he was occasionally vulnerable on the long distances. If his 500 and 1,500 metre events did not go exactly according to plan, then he could be beaten – as shown in the 1927 season when the 22-year-old Bernt Evensen pipped him to both the World and European title. Evensen, however, could never string together the long run of victories that Thunberg ended up with.

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